I was still wondering about it as he took up the bag with his new purchase instead of handing it off to me.
…Wasn’t I supposed to be his bag mule?
Afterward, we ate lunch at a restaurant. He’d made a reservation beforehand, so they seated us and brought out all my favorite foods the moment we arrived.
“Amazing! Only my favorites! Just what kind of magic did you pull?” I exclaimed a bit too loudly.
Instead of chiding me, Cyril grinned impishly. “I heard you dined with Commander Saviz in the castle, and so I asked what dishes were your favorite.”
“Wowie. You’re perfect in every way, aren’t you, Captain?” I said. He was captain of the First Knight Brigade, the most preeminent brigade, for good reason. He wasn’t just skilled with the sword but also attentive and capable. “I see why you’re captain of the First Knight Brigade!”
He laughed. “Is it because I have the funds to buy my fellow knights lunch?”
“That’s a factor, of course, but it’s mainly your attentiveness to others and your ability to get things done!”
“Ha ha. In other words, abilities related to getting you this food?”
Oh. I guess so? “Incredible, Captain! You summed up everything I wanted to say so easily.”
He really was on a different level. I gobbled up everything all the way down to dessert, then left the restaurant with him. He somehow paid for both our meals without me noticing, which I felt bad about but thanked him for anyway. Then we ran into two captains out on the street: Desmond and Zackary.
I grimaced, wishing I could avoid them. They’d just caught Cyril and me, a man and a woman, leaving a restaurant together smiling. No matter how you sliced it, it looked like we were on a date.
I braced for the teasing, and sure enough, Desmond smirked and said, “Well, what’s the meaning of this, Cyril? You said you were busy today, but here you are, running errands with Fia!”
His sharp eyes skimmed over the paper bags Cyril carried, but I still didn’t get how he’d reached this conclusion. Did he think we were on official business?
“Errands?!” I exclaimed with a frown. Huh? When you see a man and a woman out together, your first assumption should be that they’re on a date, right?
Zackary glanced back at the restaurant we’d just left and shook his head. “There’s no way this place filled you up. It’s all style and not enough substance. I came here once on Clarissa’s recommendation, but they take these big plates and only serve scrawny portions on them! Even if you order enough to fill the table, you’ll only satisfy a corner of your stomach. You should’ve gone to the meat place next door; they serve heaps.”
Like true knights, they only thought about quantity and not quality, but perhaps it was my fault for expecting them to have a single romantic bone in their bodies.
Cyril smiled. “Thank you for your advice, but Fia and I aren’t here on business today. We’re here on a date.”
“Huh?!” I exclaimed with a start. Didn’t he say earlier that this wasn’t a date?
Exasperated, Desmond said, “Just because you’re a man and a woman walking together doesn’t mean it’s a date! If that were the case, then me making rounds in the castle with Clarissa would count as a date too!”
No, that’s obviously different since it’s work…
Zackary chuckled. “Ha ha ha! In that case, me going on monster-hunting expeditions with Clarissa would count as a date too!”
Cyril ignored their lack of common sense to regard me instead. “Shall we get going?”
It would be a waste of time and energy to continue talking with these two, so I said, “Let’s! Gorging on so many yummy foods has made me sleepy, so I’m just about ready to go home and nap!”
“My, how healthy you are.”
Hee hee. Captain Cyril complimented me!
No matter how many times I told him not to, Cyril insisted on seeing me back to the women’s dorms. When we arrived, I thanked him for the pleasant day.
“Captain Cyril, thank you for today! I had fun looking at so many stores with you, and lunch was nice. You even walked me back to the dorm.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said with a smile. Then he held out his bags. “It might be a bit heavy, but these are for you.”
“Huh?” Confused, I blinked up at him.
He smiled and forced the bags into my hands one by one. “You were right this morning. What we went on was a date after all, so surely you should allow me to give you a few gifts?”
“Huh? But didn’t you indirectly imply it wasn’t a date?”
“I was wrong. What else could taking you out on a non-work day be called if not a date? Desmond and Zackary made me realize my mistake.”
He wore the same smile he had when he forced me to take that golden dragon statue as a return gift for the holy stones. Thinking he was up to something similar, I squinted warily at him. “But you bought these gifts for someone else, didn’t you? I couldn’t possibly take them.”
“Ha ha, there’s no need to worry about that. I bought these with the intention of giving them to you from the start.”
“What?!” That meant he would’ve given these to me even if he hadn’t found a proper excuse. “But why?”
“It’s completely natural to give a few gifts to someone on a date, is it not?”
Hmm… He seemed to believe he could give someone whatever gifts he wanted so long as he called it a date, but I wasn’t so sure. He put up his hands in surrender.
“If it’s a bit much, you can think of it as extra thank-you gifts for the holy stones you gave me. The statue I gave you last time was in no way enough, after all.”
I finally understood. Cyril planned this whole day as a continuation of his repayment for the holy stones… He didn’t need to go this far, though. All I did was give him some stones I got for free in Sutherland that I filled with a splash of my magic. All this was way too much…
While I hemmed and hawed over what to say, he forced the last paper bag into my hands. It was way heavier than the others for some reason. It had to contain something dense, like holy stones, or… “Gold?!”
Before I could stop him, Cyril vanished like the wind.
✦ ✦ ✦
Left with no choice, I returned to my room with all the bags from Cyril. I opened the final bag first. Inside was a box I didn’t recognize. Wary, I creaked the box open and found a golden dragon statue that was a match for the one I’d received before.
“When did he find the time to buy this?!” I grumbled. I was about to put it back in the box so I could return it when Zavilia flew down from the window.
Shoot, I thought, but it was already too late. His eyes sparkled as he took in the statue. “Fia, you bought me another golden dragon statue, just like I asked!”
“Huh? Oh, right!” Come to think of it, he requested this, didn’t he? “No, no, this is something unrelated that I’m definitely returning this time.”
I tried to hide the statue behind my back, but he snatched it out of my hands and carried it back to the window.
“Oh no!”
Zavilia was back in his Zavilia space, this time with two golden statues under him.
“Aaah, what do I do! Trying to get a treasure back from you is next to impossible!” I quickly gave up on that idea and pulled out a fluffy blanket from among the other gifts. I tossed it on my bed and dove under it, curling into a ball. “I can make my own nest, Zavilia! Captain Cyril called me healthy for planning to take a nap, so I’m going…to do…just that…”
I dropped off mid-speech. The delicious lunch filled me up nicely, so I drifted away with ease, aided by the soft blanket.
What a luxury it is to take an afternoon nap like this. I owe it all to that wonderful lunch and this blanket Cyril bought me. Today’s date was perfect! I smiled, both in bed and in my dream.